News and views

Today, I went for a walk along Forest Road into Parkhurst Forest. I spotted a few issues which I have reported: pothole and noisy manhole cover in Forest Road dog fouling in the Hunnyhill area litter along Worsley Road and at its junction with Heytesbury Road – I’ll do some informal picking this week ahead of Island Roads’ action Yesterday, I saw that litter was again accumulating in the subway at St Mary’s junction. I’ve also reported this to Island Roads. UPDATES 16 March 2021 Island Roads confirmed that the manhole cover has been scheduled for action. They have also swept the pedestrian subway.

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Roads, pavements, and streetlights on the prison estates could be in line for much needed repair if an offer by the Ministry of Justice is taken up by Isle of Wight Council. A report going to the council’s Cabinet on Thursday, 11 March 2021 (pdf document), has the details. However, a lot of this is in confidential appendices, including a map of which roads are affected. I believe this map should be published so residents know if their road will get improvements. The way the houses on the estates were sold in the 1980s means many residents have rights and responsibilities over parts of the roads. It’s not clear from the public part of the report what improvements will be…

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A budget amendment from the Isle of Wight Council’s Liberal Democrat group once again aims to enhance local communities, boost local entrepreneurial spirit, and back initiatives that tackle the climate emergency. The Covid pandemic has meant this has been an extremely hard year for all Islanders. The council’s top priority has rightly been on the public health response to the pandemic and on supporting local communities. The Lib Dem budget amendment again shows there is a better approach than the one being taken by the Conservative administration when delivering its usual day-to-day services. Just over two months from now, Islanders will go to the polls to elect a new Isle of Wight Council. Our amendment highlights the priorities of a…

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If you live in one of the roads around the prisons you should have got a leaflet from Isle of Wight Council about an inspection to be carried out of roads, footways, street lighting, signage and trees that are close to the highway. The inspection is being carried out because the council is in discussions with the Ministry of Justice about potential improvement works to these estates. Unlike most roads on the Island, the roads around the prisons are unadopted roads which are not part of the council’s responsibility to maintain. Since I was elected as councillor in 2017, I have pressed the Ministry of Justice to take action on the estates. Last year some progress was made when a…

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Island Roads are asking for feedback on a range of services they carry out on behalf of Isle of Wight Council. The annual survey is online and has twelve short questions. They ask residents to rank performance on things like road repairs, street lighting, and verge cutting. Each question has a box in which you can add further views. As it’s a short survey it doesn’t cover everything but it’s a useful way of drawing attention to problems. When I filled it out I included my concerns about how new road surfaces seem to crack up soon after. We’ve seen that in Noke Common, for example. I’ve also highlighted the need for street cleaning to be more frequent in trouble…

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As the nation entered its first lockdown last March, local elections across the country were postponed. For Islanders that meant that the election for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight police and crime commissioner was held over till May this year. This will now coincide with the elections for the Isle of Wight council, and for our many community, parish and town councils. But should they be held in May? Traditionally, political campaigning in the UK is through doorstep discussions and leaflet delivery. And for many of us that’s not just in the formal election period; the six week run-up to polling day. But, currently, we are in lockdown. Government ministers say that delivering leaflets and knocking on doors is…

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